It’s a Feel Good Friday, and We are Celebrating the Greenville House of Pizza

It’s another Feel Good Friday. Not least because I am SO excited that my workweek is done today, I’m feeling good. Little Utopia may be starting up a bi-monthly (or so) Feel Good Friday column. One of the top complaints (I think, because I’ve never done an empirical study on this) people have about the news is that it is too depressing and sometimes even too horrifying, or it’s just this type of thing, which, admittedly, is hilarious. Personally, I can’t read much of the news at night because it is so upsetting to me that I either can’t sleep at all, or I have bad dreams. In reaction to this, we want to alert our readers to the small and sweet things that make us human. Last Friday, I wrote about something close to my heart: a strong and sacrificial marriage. This week, I bring you something even closer to my heart: pizza.

That’s right. I love pizza more than I love most people. (That’s a joke. I think.) [Editor’s note: That is not a joke.] I will eat pizza almost any way, as long as it doesn’t have meat on it. In fact, I am right this minute sitting in eye line of a refrigerator full of pizza that I can’t eat because it is not gluten free. But, I am considering how much stomach pain I am willing to put up with for a piece of that glutened triangle of joy. I will probably break before I finish writing this.

Anyways, enough about me. The real, non-facetious story is about the Greenville House of Pizza (GHoP), which is offering free pizza for Greenville, New Hampshire residents who meet the Report Card Challenge or the Community Challenge. The challenges involve students earning good grades and non-students memorizing and reciting the Gettysburg Address. [As an aside, I got through one paragraph (this one) before I ate a slice of that pizza in the fridge. Here come the bloats!]

These high school and community challenges are not only wonderful because they encourage and recognize productive and wise behavior — customers are not lauded because they eat Fatty McFat’s largest sandwich in record time — but are rewarded for choices that have taken place over long stretches of time. There is no instant gratification involved here. In the age of 140-character Twitter posts and Instagram, this is a welcome change.

Not only is the 28-year Army vet owner offering free pizza, but he has also opened his entire restaurant as a sort of study hall/after school homework hangout. This is the real kicker, people, because anyone with a “buck first” mentality knows that the way to a profit is not to cater to young high schoolers, who are generally rude enough to not leave any tip and not feel bad about it. I don’t know the owner or the pizza joint, but this seems like a place that is actually invested in seeing the local youths (and their older counterparts) read more, learn more and flourish because of it. This is really wonderful. Thanks, GHoP, for investing in the community on a real, tangible level and for showing us the value of sacrifice. I will be dreaming of your pizza tonight.